Distributed data storage systems typically comprise multiple network nodes that store data and redundancy information used for data protection and recovery. For example, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage technology distributes data across multiple physical disk drive components. Various RAID schemes define multiple architecture levels to tradeoff redundancy versus performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,219,887, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a system and a method for parallel Reed-Solomon (RS) RAID data storage. The parallel RS-RAID data storage architecture can aggregate that data and checksums within each cluster into intermediate or partial sums that are transferred or distributed to other clusters.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0026328, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes apparatus and related method for calculating parity of redundant array of disks. For error tolerance in a redundant array disks (RAID), a parity data is calculated according to plurality of data respectively accessed in disks of the RAID. A hardware calculation module for parity calculation can be implemented in a RAID controller. With direct memory access (DMA) capability of the RAID controller, the calculation module performs parity calculation by directly accessing a system memory for the plurality of data and the parity data. Thus, memory resources of the parity calculation can be supported by the system memory, and a central processing unit (CPU) can be offloaded during parity calculation.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0143506, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an integrated circuit and associated methods operable therein to provide hardware assist to RAID storage management controllers. The RAID assist integrated circuit offloads a general purpose processor of the storage controller from the responsibility and processing associated with address mapping.